What the 2016 Elections Should Be All About

Our country’s (long and painful) 2016 political season will conclude with the general election on Tuesday, November 8th. Our Editorial Board encourages every registered voter to go to the polls and vote your conscience as you cast your votes for the various federal, state and local candidates, based on your assessment of each candidate’s “agenda” and platform, and whether they have earned your trust.

If you would like additional perspective as you sort through the issues, we recommend that you visit a non-partisan website (www.isidewith.com) and complete a 10-minute survey, which focuses on the issues (rather than the “personality” of a candidate). It is a wide-ranging survey with questions about social issues, the Constitution, the economy, education, the environment, healthcare, immigration, and other domestic and foreign policy issues. The response buttons are not simply just “yes” or “no” replies – – the survey allows you to customize your response, or you can submit your own stance on the issue. The survey is also a good way to figure out what is important to you in this election, as it allows you to “weight” the importance of the issue. The summary of the survey’s results can be enlightening, so it’s worth checking out.

Since the beginning of this year’s election cycle, our Editorial Board has attempted to keep the focus on the principles of the two major political parties. As we have noted earlier, the full text of the two parties’ platforms are available on the internet, and we are again providing the following links to two Conversation Pieces on our Foundation’s website that contain excerpts from the two parties’ platforms –

The 2016 elections represent an opportunity to choose between a smaller, better-focused, limited government, versus an ever-expanding, deficit-driven, more intrusive federal government.

Our Editorial Board agrees with the title of Hillary Clinton’s 1996 book – It Takes a Village (To Raise a Child). However, we strongly disagree with the Left’s “progressive” agenda. The Left’s solution to every issue is the federal government (its “experts”, its multitude of federal programs, and its attempts to funnel money and influence to its favored special interest groups).

Our Editorial Board believes that the best kind of village to raise a self-reliant, personally responsible child is civil society – – a strong family unit headed by a mother and a father, supported by other family members (aunts and uncles and grandparents), and backed up by Not For Profit charities, religious institutions, excellent (rather than poor) “chosen” schools, and other local “communities”. The worst kind of village is one headed up by “Big Brother”, who is distant, out of touch, intrusive and coercive.

We encourage you to re-read the Seven Inevitable Results that arise from Big Government, which were listed in our August newsletter, and keep in mind the Tenth Amendment – The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.